Method and apparatus for asynchronous mediated communicaton

ABSTRACT

A system and method for mediating the routing of asynchronous messages includes routing the asynchronous message to a first recipient, determining whether the first recipient opened the asynchronous message, and re-routing the asynchronous message to a second recipient who is qualified to receive and respond to the message if the first recipient fails to open the message. In an aspect, the second recipient is selected based upon the role that the second recipient performs within the system. In another aspect, the message is re-routed to the second recipient if the first recipient fails to open the message within a deadline imposed by the message sender. In another aspect, the message is re-routed to the second recipient if the first recipient fails to open the message within a deadline automatically imposed by the system when the message is of a certain type.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims the benefit of priority to U.S.Provisional Patent Application No. 61/030,829 filed Feb. 22, 2008, theentire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to computer communicationtechnologies, and more particularly to a system and method for tracking,logging, re-routing and providing opened message confirmation ofasynchronous communication messages.

BACKGROUND

With the growth of e-mail and text messages (e.g., SMS messages) thereis an on-going shift in mobile communications from synchronouscommunications to asynchronous communications. In this context,synchronous communications involve the calling and called party indirect communication during the exchange of information. Asynchronouscommunications occur when the calling party and called party are not indirect communication. Examples of popular asynchronous communicationmethods include Text Messaging, such as Short Messaging Service (SMS),multimedia messaging service (MMS), Electronic Mail (e-mail), Facsimile(fax), and numeric-only or alphanumeric paging (paging), voice mail,etc.

Asynchronous communication modes do not provide mechanisms to ensurethat the intended recipient of a message will actually read, listen,display, act upon the message (i.e., open the message). At best, senderscan request a read receipt, such as provided by most e-mail systems, oran acknowledgement that the message has been received. Additionally,current asynchronous communication modes do not rank the priority levelsof sent messages. Using traditional e-mail as an example, flags may beset by senders to denote that the message is urgent. However, therecipient decides when to read the message. Consequently in urgentsituations some messages may not be read in time or read at all. Theseproblems may limit the use of current asynchronous communication modesfor communicating information with deadlines or urgent priority.

SUMMARY

Disclosed are communication systems, communication system components andmethods for mediating the routing and re-routing of asynchronousmessages. When asynchronous messages are sent in a communicationnetwork, message senders are provided tools with which they can promptor ensure an action is taken and/or a reply is received in response totheir asynchronous messages. The various embodiments re-route messagesin the event the message is not acted upon or responded to within somethreshold of time.

According to one embodiment, an asynchronous message is sent to a firstrecipient via a mediator and communication network. The mediator routesthe message to the first recipient using routing information containedwithin the message, and re-routes the message to a second recipientbased upon the role performed by the first recipient, and therelationship of the second recipient to the first recipient, if amessage opened confirmation is not received from the first recipient.According to another embodiment, the message is re-routed to the secondrecipient if the message opened confirmation is not received within adeadline imposed by the sender. According to another embodiment, themessage is re-routed to the second recipient, and potentially a third ormore recipients, if the message opened confirmation is not receivedwithin a deadline automatically imposed based upon the type of message.Forwarding of the message to one or more additional recipients may bedetermined by the message content and situation or the enterpriseenvironment. According to another embodiment, a reminder is sent to thefirst recipient if the message opened confirmation is not receivedwithin some period of time earlier than the deadline.

According to another embodiment, a reminder is sent to a secondrecipient if the message opened confirmation is not received from thefirst recipient within some period of time earlier than the deadline.The second recipient is selected based upon the role performed by thefirst recipient.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated herein and constitutepart of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention,and, together with the general description given above and the detaileddescription given below, serve to explain features of the invention.

FIG. 1 is system block diagram of an example asynchronous mediatedcommunication network.

FIG. 2 is a process flow diagram of an embodiment method for providing amessage delivery confirmation between two communication devices in anasynchronous mediated communication network.

FIG. 3 is a process flow diagram of an embodiment method for re-routinga message when an intended recipient is unavailable in an asynchronousmediated communication network.

FIG. 4 is a process flow diagram of an embodiment method for re-routinga message when a sent message has not been read within a pre-determinedtime before a deadline.

FIG. 5 is a process flow diagram of an embodiment method for sending areminder to a first recipient prior to the expiration of a deadline.

FIG. 6 is a process flow diagram of an embodiment method for sending asecondary reminder to a second recipient prior to the expiration of adeadline.

FIG. 7 is a process flow diagram of an alternative embodiment methodwhich provides a first reminder in conjunction with a secondaryreminder.

FIG. 8 is a process flow diagram of an alternative embodiment methodwhich provides a first reminder in conjunction with a secondaryreminder.

FIG. 9 is a process flow diagram of an embodiment method for re-routinga read confirmation message when the originating device is no longeravailable.

FIG. 10 is an example of a message structure for use in an embodimentmethod for insuring delivery and action upon a sent message.

FIG. 11 is a process flow diagram of an embodiment method for re-routinga sent message to an alternative recipient.

FIG. 12 is an example of an alternative message structure for use in anembodiment method for insuring delivery to an alternative recipientbased upon the role performed by the intended and alternativerecipients.

FIG. 13 is a process flow is a process flow diagram of an embodimentmethod for re-routing a message to an alternative recipient based upon arole performed by the intended recipient and the alternative recipient.

FIG. 14 a is an example of a static re-routing template of variousactors performing the common role of healthcare for a particularpatient.

FIG. 14 b is an example of a static re-routing template of variousactors performing a common role.

FIG. 14 c is an example of a dynamic re-routing template which may beused in conjunction with a static re-routing template to determinealternative recipients of a message.

FIG. 15 is an example of a message structure for use in an embodimentmethod for insuring delivery of and action upon a sent message.

FIG. 16 is an example of a message structure for use in an embodimentmethod for insuring delivery of and action upon a sent message.

FIG. 17 is an example of a message structure for use in an embodimentmethod for insuring delivery of and action upon a sent message.

FIG. 18 is an example of a message structure for use in an embodimentmethod for insuring delivery of and action upon a sent message.

FIG. 19 is a process flow diagram of an embodiment method for re-routinga message to an alternative recipient based upon a role performed by theintended recipient and alternative recipient.

FIG. 20 a component block diagram of a communication device suitable foruse with the various embodiments.

FIG. 21 is a component block diagram of an example remote serversuitable for use with the various embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The various embodiments will be described in detail with reference tothe accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numberswill be used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or like parts.References made to particular examples and implementations are forillustrative purposes, and are not intended to limit the scope of theinvention or the claims.

As used herein, the term “communication device” may refer to any one orall of cellular telephones, personal data assistants (PDA's), palm-topcomputers, laptop computers, desktop computers, wireless electronic mailreceivers (e.g., the Blackberry® and Treo® devices), multimedia Internetenabled cellular telephones, and similar personal electronic deviceswhich include a programmable processor and memory capable of sending andreceiving at least one form of asynchronous message (e.g., SMS, MMS, IM(Instant Messaging), email, Facsimile (fax), voicemail, and numeric-onlyor alphanumeric paging (paging), etc.). In a preferred embodiment, thecommunication device is a cellular handset that can communicate via acellular telephone network (e.g., a cellphone) and is capable of sendingand receiving asynchronous type messages. However, the variousembodiments are not intended to be limited to such communication devicesand cellular telephone systems. Indeed the various embodiments may beimplemented using any type of communication device linked to othercommunication devices via a communication network including desktopcomputers.

As used herein, the term “server” refers to any of a variety ofcommercially available computer systems configured to operate in aclient-server architecture. In particular, the term “server” refers tonetwork servers, particularly Internet accessible servers, whichtypically include a processor, memory (e.g., hard disk memory), andnetwork interface circuitry configured to connect the server processorto the network, such as the Internet, an instant messaging network, asimple messaging system network and/or a cellular telephone network.

Recent technological advances have caused another shift in thecommunications paradigm. Despite the existence of conventional telephoneand cellular telephone technology which allows users to reliablycommunicate synchronously over great distances, some users prefer toemploy asynchronous modes of communication. Some observers point to thegrowth in the global connected community as a contributing factor to thecommunication paradigm shift. As users communicate with other userslocated in far off places in the world, differences in time zones oftenhamper synchronous communications. For example, finding a convenienttime for a telephone call may be difficult when some participants arelocated in the United States and others are located in China.Asynchronous communication, such as email and SMS, is often moreefficient since users can send and receive messages when it is mostconvenient for them without having to coordinate with others.

Despite the relative high degree of reliability of delivery afforded bymodern asynchronous communication systems (e.g., text messages (SMS),e-mail, etc.), problems with asynchronous modes of communicationpersist. For example, while delivery of the message to a recipient'scommunication device may be confirmed, there are no mechanisms in placeto ensure that the recipient user actually reads, displays, and/or plays(i.e., opens the message), and takes a prescribed action as a result ofopening the message. For example, an e-mail may sit in a recipient'sinbox for hours, days, even weeks before the recipient reads andresponds to the email.

While the use of urgency flags, boldface type or other identifiers maybe employed to inform the recipient of the relative importance of amessage, the sender can do very little to prompt or ensure the recipientopens the message. Moreover, the sender can do little to prompt orensure the recipient will act upon or respond to the original messagewithin some imposed deadline.

This inability to elicit an action or response or enforce a deadlinecauses a lack of trust in asynchronous modes of communication for someparticipants and in some applications. This lack of trust andreliability of using asynchronous communication modes can causesignificant problems for the sender and/or recipient.

In certain environments, prompt attention and response to messages maybe of critical importance. For example, in the healthcare industryprompt receipt and response to messages or requests may have life ordeath consequences. As another example, in the legal industry briefs orother documents must be filed prior to strict filing deadlines. Ifinstructions to file such documents are sent via asynchronous modes ofcommunication (e.g., email), those sending the instructions couldbenefit from a mechanisms for ensuring that the action is completedwithin the deadline. As another example, family members coordinatingchild care duties via asynchronous modes of communication (e.g., email,SMS message, etc.) could benefit from mechanisms for ensuring a messageis read and acted upon to ensure their children are picked up on time.Consequently, there is a need for systems and methods that ensureasynchronous messages are received and acted upon by a recipient evenwhen the intended recipient is unavailable. Moreover, there is a need toprovide a system and method to ensure that the asynchronous messages arereceived and acted upon before the expiration of critical deadlines.

Exploring the healthcare industry example further, most hospitals in theUnited States and elsewhere use both traditional synchronous andasynchronous modes for inter-clinician communication. In one example ofa message flow, a physician who orders lab tests expects that theresults will be reported back. In this example, the physician checks thepatient, updates the patient's chart with the lab test order, and ifneeded, delivers the instructions to an assistant or nurse that thepatient needs further testing at the lab. The assistant or nurse thenplaces a work order for the lab to act on the samples taken from thepatient, run the lab tests and report the results. In one scenario, thesamples from the patient are taken at the doctor's office. In anotherscenario, the patient goes to the lab or another medical departmentwhere the samples are taken from the patient. Once the lab has obtainedthe samples and the testing is completed, the lab technician conveys thetest results to a nurse or assistant currently in charge of thepatient's care. Depending on the urgency indicated by the physician'sorder or the test result (e.g., classified as critical, significant, orroutine) the nurse or assistant may inform the doctor on-duty. Thedoctor, on seeing the lab results, then takes the next appropriatesteps.

Using traditional synchronous or asynchronous communication modes, thereare several communication nodes where communication breakdowns canoccur. First, the sender and recipient of the communication may varydepending on who is on-duty when the message is communicated. Forexample, the physician who first orders the lab test may no longer be onduty when the lab test results are obtained. Similarly, the assistant ornurse who placed the lab order may be on a lunch break or off duty whenthe lab test results are conveyed back by the lab technician.

Second, a time lag may occur between the time the physician orders thelab test and the time the assistant or nurse places the lab test order.For example, the assistant or nurse may be busy with other patients andso cannot read the message (e.g., physician's lab test order) in atimely manner. Perhaps, the assistant or nurse is on a break. Theassistant or nurse could be reassigned to other duties and not able toread the message. In some situations, the assistant or nurse may simplymiss the physician's order. Thus, action on the message (e.g., lab testorder) from the physician to the assistant or nurse may be delayed ormissed altogether.

Third, a further time lag may occur between the time the lab testresults are obtained and the time the physician receives the messageconveying the lab results. For example, when the lab sends a messageconveying the lab test results to the assistant or nurse who originallyplaced the lab test order, that assistant or nurse may no longer be onduty in which case the message may wait until he/she returns the nextday. As another example, the lab technician may have to spend timedetermining the identity and contact information for the currentassistant or nurse in charge of the patient before the message can betransmitted.

Fourth, based on the lab test results, the physician who ordered the labtests needs to be informed but cannot be located or does not read themessage promptly. For example, the physician may be off duty at thetime, so the message waits until he/she is back on duty. As anotherexample, the physician currently in charge of the patient may be toobusy to read the message in a timely manner, so the message may end upin the physician's answering service. This causes further delays beforethe physician is informed of the message including the test results.

In each of these various communication breakdowns it would be desirableto take actions to ensure prompt delivery of and response to messages.Such actions may include alerting the recipient that the message (orresponse to the initial message) has been received, and prompting therecipient of a message to act upon or respond to the message. If themessage cannot be timely delivered or is not responded to within adeadline, such action may include re-routing the message to anotherrecipient qualified to receive the message. When re-routing a message itwould be desirable to re-route the message to another recipient who isqualified to receive, act upon, and/or respond to the message. By doingso, the chances of obtaining an appropriate response to the originalmessage are increased. In a similar manner in another embodiment themessage may continue to be re-routed to a third, fourth or additionalactors who fulfill the same role as the original intended recipient, ifsubsequent recipients do not respond in a timely manner to the message.Thus, the message may be re-routed to other actors who fulfill the samerole as the original intended recipient.

A role may be a discrete job, a unit of work, or a functionalresponsibility within a multi-step process employed to achieve desiredresults with a given set of inputs. An individual's role may bedetermined by the individual's position within an asynchronous mediatedcommunication (AMC) system. For example, in the healthcare industry, anindividual's role may be one of administrator, physician, nurse,physician assistant, lab technician, affiliated hospital staff, etc.Alternatively, an individual's role may be determined by theindividual's function within the AMC system. For example, in thehealthcare industry, an individual's role may be emergency physician,oncology physician, radiologist, obstetrician, etc. Still further, anindividual's role may be determined by the individual's responsibilitywithin the AMC system. For example, in the healthcare industry, arecipient's role may be Patient XYZ treatment team member, Patient 123treatment team member nurse, etc. Still further, an individual's rolemay be determined by a combination of position, function and/orresponsibility as well as other parameters.

The individuals filling the roles may be referred to as actors, whileactors may be people or system resources. For example, in the healthcareindustry, actors may be the physicians, nurses, hospital staff, etc.Actors may also be the MRI machine, the CT scanner, the X-Ray, theradiation oncology device, etc. Still further, an actor may be amediator 130 operating within the asynchronous mediated communicationsystem 100 or within another asynchronous mediated communication system.Actors may also be information system services (i.e. agents) that arepre-programmed to receive, read, and respond to messages in the AMCsystem (e.g. a AMC Mediator service). Each of these resources fulfills arole in the AMC system to complete the multi-step communication process.Multiple actors may be assigned to a particular role. For example, inthe healthcare industry, multiple individuals (i.e., actors) can performthe role of attending physician to a particular patient depending on thelocation, time of day and day of the week (e.g., the attending physicianin the oncology ward of hospital branch #1 on Monday is a differentindividual than the attending physician on Tuesday). Further, a singleactor may perform more than one role. For example, in the healthcareindustry, an attending physician to a particular patient may also be theback-up physician for another patient.

The AMC system may be made aware of each actor through an enrollmentprocess that provides the AMC system with information that is specificand unique to an individual actor. This information may include a UserID and Password and is extensible to include any details pertaining tothe actor's identity and preferences. For example, the preferences mayidentify the different communication technologies (e.g., phone, e-mail,SIP address, etc.) that an actor would like to use for particularmessaging types, the availability of an actor to fill specific orgeneral categories of roles, other individuals who the actor prefers tointeract with when filling an individual role, and the roles that theactor prefers to perform. The AMC system may create and maintain theactor's Identity (ID) information which may be used for theauthentication, authorization and accounting (AAA) services of the AMCsystem. In an embodiment, the ID information comprises a “security” keypair (Private and Public) for use in the AAA services and with othermobile devices in the AMC system. In one example, the AAA services areperformed by at least a processor in the AMC system. This processor maybe contained within a mediator device/server. In one example, theprocessor is coupled to at least one memory for storage of the IDinformation. The memory may be local to the processor or located in aseparate database.

As a consequence of the enrollment process, routing and re-routingtemplates (collectively referred to as routing templates) may begenerated which assist in the routing and re-routing of asynchronousmessages. A routing template for each possible role performed by allactors within an AMC system may be generated. By using informationcollected during the enrollment process routing templates may bepopulated with actors fulfilling the same roles as well as each actor'scontact information and preferences. Alternatively, the routingtemplates may be in the form of separate but cross-correlated databasesso that an actor role database, actor database, patient database andmessage routing rule database can be mapped one to another to achievethe message rerouting described herein. Additionally, the routingtemplate may prioritize the listing of actors fulfilling the particularrole. The priority listing may dictate the order in which actors areselected as routing or re-routing recipients of an asynchronous message.

While routing templates may be static, the actual order in which actorsare selected as routing or re-routing recipients of an asynchronousmessage may dynamically change in accordance with an availability orstatus template. While an individual's assignment to various roles maybe static, the actual roster of individuals fulfilling various roles maydynamically change by location as well as by the minute, hour, day,week, month, etc. For example, individual work schedules or attention toother projects/patients may force some actors to temporarily forgo theircurrent duties, responsibilities, functions. As a result any messagerouted or re-routed to those actors may be ignored and thus requiresubsequent re-routing. In order to avoid this unnecessary delay adynamic table of availability may be maintained by the mediator 130 tomore efficiently route and re-route message.

Thus, in addition to static routing templates, dynamic availabilitytemplates may be generated and stored in a memory local to a processoror in a separate database. The dynamic availability template may trackthe availability of all actors within an AMC system in real time. As anexample, the dynamic availability template may be linked with theadministrative function of the AMC system that monitors when actors login/out of the AMC system. Each time an actor logs into the AMC systemvia any communication device, the actor's status may change from “Out”to “In.” Alternatively, as wireless communication devices associatedduring the enrollment process register with the AMC system'scommunication network, the corresponding actor's status may change from“Out” to “In” and vice versa. Alternatively, the dynamic availabilitytemplate may be linked with a work schedule which may be manuallyupdated. Other embodiments may employ any of a variety of methods toupdate the dynamic availability template. Examples of static roletemplates and dynamic availability tables are shown in FIGS. 14 a-14 cand described in more detail below with references to these figures.

In various embodiments, an original asynchronous message may beformulated based on a pre-determined message template. In oneembodiment, a message template is chosen based on one or more of thefollowing parameters: message content, actor, role, priority level,deadlines, etc. One skilled in the art would understand that otherparameters (although not listed here) may be used to determine a messagetemplate chosen without affecting the spirit or scope of the presentinvention. The message template creates a structure for which a mediatormay route and deliver the message to a recipient. In a healthcareindustry example, a lab technician's template may indicate that amessage regarding a particular blood test results should be sent to apatient's attending physician and nurse. Thus, if message type isidentified as a blood test, the intended recipient may be explicitlyidentified but may also be identified by the role of the recipient. Inthe instant example, the role may be identified as attending physicianor nurse, or possibly healthcare professionals attending to theidentified patient. As discussed above, the message template may includean explicit deadline set by the message creator by which time a responseto the message is required. Alternatively, a deadline may beautomatically imposed for the message based upon the identified messagetype (e.g., blood test). Automatic deadlines may be further assignedaccording to message content. For example, a blood test for liverfunction may include a more pressing deadline than a blood test for amild bacterial infection. Thus, by further defining the specific messagetype varying deadlines may be automatically imposed.

Depending on the role, certain actions may be taken by the actorfulfilling the role. In one embodiment, the action required by a messagemay be linked to particular roles using an action template. An actiontemplate is a database which includes a set of actions that the actor inthat particular role may perform within the AMC system. Each action, inturn, may be associated with a set of rules that the mediator executes.The action template provides an easy to implement association ofassigned or permissible actions to particular roles that the system canaccess in order to properly reroute a message in some circumstances. Forexample, an action template for the physician role may list permissibleactions that a physician receiving a message including: initiate,delegate, escalate, add other actors, check status, etc. In contrast,the action template for the lab technician role may list permissibleactions for a lab technician receiving the same message that are limitedto escalate, add other actors, check status, etc., but preclude initiateor delegate.

FIG. 1 is system block diagram of an example asynchronous mediatedcommunication network system 100. The asynchronous mediatedcommunication (AMC) system 100 comprises N mobile devices 110 ₁, 110 ₂,110 ₃ . . . 110 _(N), a communication network 120 and a mediator 130between a sender and a recipient of a message. The mediator 130 mayoptionally be in communication with a mediator database 135. Themediator 130 provides message tracking and logging, thus ensuring aclosed loop in the communication between the sender and recipient. Inone embodiment, the mediator 130 may be a server device 210 and/orinclude a processor 361 coupled to a memory unit 362 (see e.g., FIG.21). The mediator 130 may also be implemented as a distributed system inhardware and/or software in the network. Referring to FIG. 1, any one ofthe N mobile devices 110 can be a sender of a message, and similarly,any one or more of the rest of the N mobile devices 110 can be arecipient of that message. In one example, the message is sent frommobile device 110 ₁ through the communication network 120 and mediator130 to mobile device 110 ₂. Communication network 120 may be a wirelessor non-wireless network. One skilled in the art would understand that insome implementations of an AMC system 100, one or more of the mobiledevices 110 could be replaced with a static device with access to awired network without affecting the spirit or scope of the presentinvention.

In an alternative example asynchronous mediated communication networksystem, the communication devices 110 _(N) may be interconnected withone another in the communication network system. Each of the individualcommunication device 110 _(N) may contain a hardware and/or softwarecapable of performing the functions of the mediator 130 described in thevarious embodiments herein.

Moreover, each communication device 110 _(N) may be in communicationwith one or more asynchronous mediated communication network systems.Thus, each communication device 110 _(N) may send and receive messagesto different roles, actors, devices, according to different templatesoperating within different asynchronous mediated communication networksystems.

FIG. 2 is a process flow diagram of an embodiment method for providing amessage played/displayed confirmation between two communication devices(e.g., 110 ₁ and 110 ₂) in an AMC system 100. A sender usingcommunication device 110 ₁ generates and transmits a message to themediator 130 for routing to a recipient using communication device 110₂, step 205. The message is transmitted via a communication network 120which interconnects communication devices 110 ₁ and 110 ₂ and mediator130 such as illustrated in FIG. 1. The message may include the payloadmessage as well as metadata which may assist in the routing and accuratedelivery of the message. The mediator 130 receives the message fromoriginating communication device 110 ₁ and routes the message to 110 ₂using phone numbers, IP addresses or other identity parameters containedin the message metadata, step 210. The message is received by therecipient communication device 110 ₂, step 215. In an embodiment, priorto opening the message (i.e., playing, displaying, reading and/orexecuting the message), the communication device 110 ₂ may optionallygenerate and play and/or display a message alert notification toindicate that a message has been received, step 220. The message alertnotification may be played/displayed in accordance with informationincluded in the metadata, such as indicating the sender, an urgencylevel or a subject matter, for example. Once alerted, the recipientusing communication device 110 ₁ opens the message, step 225. When themessage is opened the recipient's communication device 110 ₁ maygenerate and transmit a message opened confirmation back to theoriginating sender's communication device 110 ₁ via the mediator 130 andcommunication network 120, step 230. The message opened confirmation mayindicate that the recipient who received and opened the message istaking responsibility to complete all of the prescribed actions that arerequired as a result of receiving and opening the message. The messageopened confirmation may simply indicate that the recipient has receivedand opened the message. Alternatively, the message opened confirmationmay also indicate that the recipient is taking the prescribed action asa result of receiving and opening the original message. In analternative embodiment, the original received message may contain anested action template within the message payload/content (see field 425of FIGS. 10, 12, 15-18) which requests and generates a confirmation orseries of confirmations as various prescribed action or series ofactions are completed as a result of receiving and opening the originalmessage. The nested action template may include time limits in whichcertain prescribed actions must be completed. Once a message is opened,the nested action template may trigger the mediator 130 to insure thatthe various prescribed action or series of actions are complete withinany deadline. Otherwise, the mediator 130 may re-route the message in amanner similar to the process flow described below with reference toFIGS. 4-9.

The message opened confirmation is relayed to the originating sender'scommunication device 110 ₁ by the mediator 130, step 235. The messageopened confirmation is received by the originating sender'scommunication device 110 ₁, step 240, after which the message openedconfirmation may be played/displayed by the originating sender'scommunication device 110 ₁, step 245. Playing/displaying the messageopened confirmation informs the sender that the message has beenreceived.

The process flow depicted in FIG. 2 illustrates an ideal situation inwhich the intended recipient is available and promptly receives andreads the message. However, this situation may not always be the case.FIG. 3 is a process flow diagram of an embodiment method for re-routinga message when the intended recipient is unavailable. By re-routing themessage as soon as it is determined that the recipient not available,the embodiment method increases the chances that appropriate actionswill be taken in response to the message.

In the process flow of FIG. 3, the sender using communication device 110₁ generates and transmits a message to the mediator 130 for routing to afirst recipient addressed to that recipient's communication device 110₂, step 205. Upon receiving the message the mediator 130 may determineif the intended first recipient's communication device 110 ₂ isavailable, decision 248. There may be a variety of reasons why theintended first recipient's communication device 110 ₂ is not available.For example, intended first recipient's communication device 110 ₂ maybe turned off, logged off the network, out of range of the network, orout of power. Alternatively, the intended first recipient may simply beaway from his/her communication device 110 ₂ or busy attending to othermatters or other messages. In order to determine whether the intendedrecipient is available or not the mediator 130 may allow somepre-determine period of time to elapse before determining that the firstrecipient is unavailable. By doing so, the mediator 130 allows the firstrecipient some window of time to receive and respond to the message.

If the intended first recipient's communication device 110 ₂ isavailable (i.e., decision 248=Yes), then steps 215-245 of FIG. 2 may beperformed. However, if the intended first recipient's communicationdevice 110 ₂ is not available (i.e., decision 248=No), mediator 130 mayattempt to re-route the message in accordance with a routing template,step 255. This re-routing step and the routing template are described ingreater detail below with reference to FIGS. 12-17. The purpose ofre-routing the message in accordance with the re-routing template is toinsure that the message is sent to another actor qualified to receiveand act on/respond to the message. For example, if the message is a labresult intended for the doctor treating a patient, the appropriate rolemay be any other doctor capable of reading the lab result and actingupon the results appropriately. In such a case, the re-routing templatemay identify other doctors available to receive the message. In thisexample, the role of the recipient may be position dependent (i.e.,doctor vis-à-vis nurse). By accurately identifying the role of theintended first recipient, messages may be re-routed in an efficientmanner to increase the chances of eliciting a proper response to themessage.

In some cases the appropriate role for re-routing a message may beresponsibility dependent. For example, some patients may have a uniquemedical history such that only those medical professionals withknowledge of the patient's history are qualified to receive and act uponthe lab results. Thus, it may be the case that a nurse or physicianassistant may be more qualified to act upon and/or respond to themessage than another doctor not familiar with the patient's medicalhistory. Therefore, the message may be re-routed to someone who is partof the team treating a particular patient.

If the message is re-routed according to the routing template, then there-routed second recipient's communication device 110 ₃ may receive themessage and process it in a manner similar to that described above withreference to steps 215-230 of FIG. 2 (see step 215 a-230 a). As with theprocess flow shown in FIG. 2, once the message opened confirmation isgenerated and transmitted (step 230 a), it is relayed by the mediator130, and received and played by the sender's communication device 110 ₁in the same manner as shown in FIG. 2.

In other embodiments (not shown), re-routing of messages may beperformed manually. In such embodiments the mediator 130 may notify thesender that the intended recipient is unavailable. By doing so thesender may re-formulate the original message with a new intendedrecipient identified. Manual message redirection can include delegationto, transfer, or assigning of responsibility to another recipient and/orrole. In one aspect, although the responsibility is transferred toanother role, accountability may remain with the initial intendedrecipient. Manual message redirection may also include escalation toforward a message to other roles (e.g., appropriate personnel) that areauthorized to make a decision, such as when the initial recipient is notable to make a decision based on the message content.

In the healthcare industry, delegation and escalation are actions thatare required often. As an example of delegation, a physician in chargeof a large number of patients may be unable to take care of all of themat a time when a critical decision needs to be made. In this case, thephysician can delegate some of his patients' care to other caregivers.Thus, in this example, all messages related to delegated patients may berouted to the designated caregivers. In one aspect, the physician maychoose to also receive or choose to not receive such messages. Inanother aspect, the physician may choose to receive selected messagesbased on message content, but not receive other messages while allmessages (regardless of message content) are routed to the othercaregivers.

As an example of escalation, a physician may not be able to make adecision based on the message content. In this situation, the AMC system100 through the mediator 130 may escalate the message to a differentactor by resending the message to another role (for example, asupervising physician) for a decision. Thus, the message initially sentto communication device 110 ₂ of the physician may be resent tocommunication device 110 ₃ of the supervising physician with an alertnotification to be presented by the alert notification block 220 a.

It may also be the case that the intended first recipient'scommunication device 110 ₂ is available and receives the message whilethe first recipient is away or busy attending to other matters. In thiscase, the message was delivered to the communication device but is notread or acted upon by the intended recipient. Confirmation of deliverymay not be sufficient if the sender requires a response to the originalmessage within some deadline. For example, in the healthcareenvironment, an emergency room physician may send a trauma patient'shead CT to a radiologist via email for immediate analysis and report.Because the patient is in the emergency room the emergency roomphysician may request that this head CT be given priority and readwithin five minutes. Therefore, if a message opened confirmation(indicating that the radiologist has received the CT scan and is in theprocess of formulating an analysis) is not received by the mediator 130at some time prior to the expiration of the five minute deadline, themediator 130 may re-route the message to another actor fulfilling theradiologist role.

In an alternative embodiment, a deadline for response may beautomatically imposed on certain types of messages regardless of whetherthe sender imposes one or not. For example, the mediator 130 may beprogrammed to recognize messages containing a head CT scan or messagesfrom the emergency room, and automatically impose a pre-determineddeadline for response to the message. By doing so, if the emergency roomdoctor in haste forgets to impose a deadline, the AMC system canautomatically re-route the message if a response is not received withinthe automatically imposed deadline.

Thus, in the emergency room example, if the intended radiologist has notread the head CT message and sent back a confirmation that the analysisis being performed within, for example, two minutes of the head CT beingsent, the mediator 130 may re-route the message to another radiologist(i.e., another actor fulfilling the appropriate role). The originalintended radiologist may be busy with another emergency room patient'sCT and therefore cannot review the next incoming CT. If the originalintended radiologist does not confirm that the CT was read within athreshold time before the deadline, the CT may be re-routed to anotherradiologist with enough time to meet the original deadline.

FIG. 4 is a process flow of an embodiment method for re-routing amessage if a response is not received within some deadline (automatic ormanually imposed). Referring to FIG. 4, the mediator 130 receives androutes the message to the intended first recipient, step 210. Afterrouting the message, the mediator 130 awaits the message openedconfirmation so as to relay it on to the originating communicationdevice 110 ₁, step 260. The mediator 130 determines if the messageopened confirmation is received, decision 265. If the message openedconfirmation is received (i.e., decision 265=Yes), then the messageopened confirmation may be relayed onto the originating communicationdevice 110 ₁ as described above with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3, steps235-245.

If the message opened confirmation is not received (i.e., decision265=No), the mediator 130 determines if the deadline has elapsed,decision 270. If the deadline has not elapsed (i.e., decision 270=No),the mediator 130 may continue to await the message opened confirmation,step 260. However, if the deadline has elapsed (i.e., decision 270=Yes),the message may be re-routed in accordance with the routing template,step 255. One of skill in the art would appreciate that the mediator 130may impose a deadline of shorter duration than that imposed by thesender to re-route the message. By doing so the mediator 130 may ensurethat the re-routed recipient receives the message with sufficient timeto act before the sender's imposed or automatically imposed deadlineexpires.

In an alternative embodiment, a reminder may be sent to the firstrecipient regarding the received asynchronous message. In such analternative embodiment, a reminder may be generated by the mediator 130to remind the first recipient that the received message must be opened(and acted upon) prior to the expiration of the deadline. In thealternative embodiment, if the deadline has not elapsed (i.e., decision270=No), the mediator 130 may proceed to perform an optional reminderprocess 271.

FIG. 5 is a process flow diagram of an embodiment method (e.g., step271) for sending a reminder to a first recipient prior to the expirationof a deadline. In this embodiment, if the deadline has not elapsed(i.e., decision 270=No), the mediator 130 may determine if a reminderthreshold has expired, decision 272. The reminder threshold may be someperiod of time shorter than the deadline checked in decision 270 so thata reminder may be sent with sufficient time to remind the firstrecipient that the asynchronous message can be opened and acted uponprior to the expiration of the deadline. If the reminder threshold hasnot expired (i.e., decision 272=No), the mediator 130 may return to step260 to await the message opened confirmation, step 275. However, if thereminder threshold has expired (i.e., decision 272=Yes), the mediator130 may generate a reminder regarding the received asynchronous message,step 273. Once generated, the mediator 130 may transmit the remindermessage to the first recipient, step 274. After transmission, themediator 130 may return to step 260 to await the message openedconfirmation, step 275.

In another embodiment, a secondary reminder may be sent to a secondrecipient. In some instances, a first recipient may not be checkingtheir communication device 110 for received asynchronous messages. Forexample, an intended recipient of an asynchronous message may bechecking their communication device 110. By sending a secondary reminderto a second recipient that may be in close physical proximity to thefirst intended recipient, the second recipient can physically remind thefirst recipient of the received message. As an example, the secondrecipient may be the first recipient's assistant, supervisor orcolleague. Each of the possible second recipients may be assigned to thesame role as the first recipient.

FIG. 6 is a process flow diagram of a method for sending a secondaryreminder to a second recipient to physically remind the first recipientto respond to the message prior to the expiration of a deadline. Theprocess illustrated in FIG. 6 may be implemented in place of or inconjunction with the reminder process illustrated in FIG. 5. Ifimplemented in place of the process illustrated in FIG. 5, if thedeadline has not elapsed (i.e., decision 270=No), the mediator 130 maydetermine if a secondary reminder threshold has expired, decision 276.If the secondary reminder threshold has not expired (i.e., decision276=No), the mediator 130 may return to step 260 and await the messageopened confirmation message, step 275. However, if the secondaryreminder threshold has expired (i.e., decision 276=Yes), the mediator130 may generate a secondary reminder regarding the asynchronous messagesent to the first recipient, step 277. The secondary reminder may, forexample, inform the secondary reminder recipient that the firstrecipient has received an asynchronous message that requires attentionand request the second recipient to please physically remind/inform thefirst recipient of the asynchronous message. Once generated, themediator 130 may select a secondary reminder recipient in a mannersimilar to the re-routing process (step 255) (as described in moredetail with reference to steps 320-345 of FIG. 13 and steps 325-350 ofFIG. 19) and transmit the secondary reminder to the secondary reminderrecipient, step 278. Once the secondary reminder is sent, the mediator130 may return to step 260 to await the message opened confirmation,step 275. The re-routing steps described below with reference to FIGS.13 and 17 select the next highest priority actor for a specific rolethat is available as the second recipient. The secondary reminderrecipient selection process may select the second recipient in reversepriority order (i.e., selecting the lowest priority actor listed in there-routing template first) so that secondary reminders are sent to arecipient's assistant before a recipient's supervisor.

FIG. 7 is a process flow diagram of an alternative embodiment methodwhich sends a secondary reminder to a second recipient to physicallyremind the first recipient to respond to the message prior to theexpiration of a deadline (i.e., the process flow of FIG. 6) inconjunction with sending a reminder to the first recipient prior to theexpiration of a deadline (i.e., the process flow of FIG. 5). In theprocess flow shown in FIG. 7, the first reminder threshold iscontemplated to be of a longer duration than the secondary reminderthreshold. In this manner, the secondary reminder recipient may be askedto physically remind/inform the first recipient about the receivedasynchronous message before sending the first recipient a subsequent(final) reminder that a response to the received asynchronous message isrequested/required. In some situations, the secondary reminder recipientmay be able to respond to the message on behalf of the first recipient,such as when the secondary reminder recipient can determine theinformation or consult with the first recipient. In any case, in orderto be effective both the first and secondary reminder thresholds may beshorter in duration than the deadline threshold so that the reminderscan be sent with sufficient time for either the first or secondrecipients to receive the reminders prior to the expiration of thedeadline.

Referring to FIG. 7, if the deadline has not elapsed (i.e., decision270=No), the mediator 130 may determine if the first reminder thresholdhas expired, decision 272. If the first reminder threshold has expired(i.e., decision 272=Yes), the mediator 130 may complete steps 273-275 inthe same manner as described above with reference to FIG. 5. However, ifthe first reminder has not expired (i.e., decision 272=No), the mediator130 may determine if the secondary reminder threshold has expired,decision 276. Since the secondary reminder threshold is of a shorterduration than the first reminder, it is possible that the secondaryreminder threshold will have expired even if the first reminderthreshold has not yet expired. If the secondary reminder threshold hasexpired (i.e., decision 276=Yes), the mediator 130 may complete steps277, 278 and 275 in the same manner as described above with reference toFIG. 6. However, if the secondary reminder threshold has not expired(i.e., decision 276=No), the mediator 130 may return to step 260 toawait the message opened confirmation, step 275.

Alternatively, an AMC system 100 administrator may wish to implement thesecondary reminder process and second recipient as a last (final) resortto remind/inform the first recipient of the received asynchronousmessage. Accordingly, the secondary reminder threshold may be of alonger duration than the first reminder threshold. In this manner, thefirst reminder may be sent to the first recipient before the secondaryreminder is sent to the second recipient. FIG. 8 is a process flowdiagram of an alternative embodiment method which performs the methodfor sending a reminder to a first recipient before the expiration of adeadline (i.e., the process flow of FIG. 5) prior to sending a secondaryreminder to a second recipient requesting that person to physicallyremind the first recipient to respond to the message (i.e., the processflow of FIG. 6). Referring to FIG. 8, because the duration of thesecondary reminder threshold is longer in this embodiment the secondaryreminder threshold is checked first for expiration, decision 276. If thesecondary reminder threshold has expired (i.e., decision 276=Yes), themediator 130 may complete steps 277, 278 and 275 in the same manner asdescribed above with reference to FIG. 6. However, if the secondaryreminder threshold has not expired (i.e., decision 276=No), the mediator130 continues to check if the first reminder threshold has expired,decision 272. The mediator 130 then proceeds to perform the steps273-275 in the same manner as described above with reference to FIG. 5.In an embodiment, this process may be extended so that more than tworeminders are sent before the process is escalated, in which casethreshold timers associated with each layer of reminder messages may beadjusted to that such reminders are sent before the expiration of themessage deadline.

It may also be the situation that prior to receiving the message openedconfirmation, the sender's communication device 110 ₁ becomesunavailable. To avoid duplication of efforts the message openconfirmation may be re-routed to the actor fulfilling the role of theunavailable sender. For example, as the last act of a shift a doctor maysend a request for lab results. The doctor may realize that he/she willnot be available when the test results are expected to be returned.Nevertheless, the doctor may desire to inform the doctor taking overhis/her shift that the test results were requested. To enable this, themessage opened confirmation may be re-routed to the actor fulfilling thedoctor's role to receive the message opened confirmation.

FIG. 9 is a process flow diagram of an embodiment method for re-routinga message opened confirmation when the originating device is no longeravailable. When the first recipient opens a sent message, the messageopened confirmation is generated and sent back to the sender, step205-235. Upon receiving the message opened confirmation, the mediator130 may determine if the sender's communication device 110 ₁ isavailable, decision 279. If the sender's communication device 110 ₁ isavailable (i.e., decision 279=Yes), the message opened confirmation isrelayed to the sender's communication device 110 ₁ where it is played ordisplayed as described above with reference to FIGS. 2-4 (step 235-245).However, if the sender's communication device 110 ₁ is not available(i.e., decision 279=No), the message opened confirmation may bere-routed in accordance with a routing template, step 255. Using therouting template discussed briefly above and in more detail below withreference to FIGS. 14 a-14 c, the message opened confirmation may bere-routed to an actor fulfilling a role appropriate to receive themessage opened confirmation, steps 240 a and 245 a.

Each message may contain routing information as well as deadlineinformation which allow the mediator 130 to properly route and re-routemessages in a timely manner. FIG. 10 is an example of a messagestructure for use in an embodiment method for insuring delivery andaction upon a sent message. The message may include the originatingsender's ID 405, the intended recipient's ID 410, the backup recipient'sID 415, the deadline information or message type 420, and the messagecontent payload 425. In an embodiment, the originating sender's ID 405may be the originating sender's IP address, phone number, email address,or mobile device identifier (MID). Similarly, the recipient's ID 410 andbackup recipient ID 415 may also be either the recipient's or the backuprecipient's SIP address, phone number, email address, or mobile deviceidentifier (MID). The message content payload 425 may be expressed in aformat specified for the type of message, for example, in an XML format.The message content payload intended for a recipient may be protectedusing a “security” key that is assigned to the role being fulfilled bythe recipient actor. Encrypting the message payload will typically beaccomplished when the message includes patient personal information. Inan example, the message content is in the XML format and XML securitystandard is used to protect the message content.

The mediator 130 may route the message 400 to the intended recipientusing the recipient ID 410 information. Message routing processesdefined for the particular message type may be implemented to deliverthe message to the recipient. Likewise, the mediator 130 may routemessage opened confirmations (which could imply that the recipient hastaken ownership of the appropriate action required by the message) tothe originating sender using the sender ID 405 information. As discussedabove with reference to FIG. 4, if a message opened confirmation is notreceived and relayed on to the originating communication device 110 ₁within some threshold of time, the mediator 130 may attempt to re-routethe message 400. By using the deadline information 420 contained withinthe message structure 400, the mediator 130 may determine theappropriate time to re-route the message 400. The mediator 130 mayre-route the message 400 to a specified backup recipient using thebackup recipient ID 415 information.

Alternatively, if the message type is identified in sub-field 420 (asopposed to explicit deadline information) the mediator 130 may retrievea previously stored message flow routing rule from either local mediatormemory or the mediator database 135 to impose a deadline for the messagetype. In this manner, the mediator 130 may impose a deadline on messages400 even if the sender failed to enter a deadline in sub-field 420.Thus, the deadline would depend on the message type identified insub-field 420.

Multiple individuals may be identified and entered in each of sub-fields405, 410, and 415. Regardless of the number of identified recipients (orbackup recipients), the mediator 130 may re-route the message 400 if amessage opened confirmation is not relayed on to the sender within somethreshold of time.

FIG. 11 is a process flow diagram of an embodiment method for re-routinga sent message to an alternative recipient (see step 255 in FIGS. 2-9).In instances where a message 400 having the structure shown in FIG. 10is employed, upon determining that the message 400 should be re-routedthe mediator 130 may access the backup recipient ID information 415 fromthe original message 400, step 305. If the backup recipient's ID doesnot include an explicit address (e.g., SIP address, phone number, emailaddress, or MID), the mediator 130 may lookup the address of the backuprecipient from a database or re-routing template stored in localmediator 130 memory, step 310. Using the backup recipient's address, theoriginal message 400 may be re-routed and transmitted to the backuprecipient, step 315.

FIG. 12 is an example alternative message structure for use in anembodiment method for insuring delivery to an alternative recipientbased upon the role performed by the intended and alternative recipient.As with message 400 shown in FIG. 10, message 401 depicted in FIG. 12contains the sender's ID 405, the recipient ID 410, deadlineinfo/message type 420 and the message content payload 425. However, themessage also contains a data field for the recipient's role 430. Inrouting the message 401, the mediator 130 may also consider the role ofthe actor assigned to the first recipient communication devices 110 ₂.

In sending a message to a specific actor, the sender may also identifythe role performed by the recipient 430. By identifying the role of theintended recipient within the message header the mediator 130 may beable to re-route the message to another actor performing the same roleas the intended recipient.

FIG. 13 is a process flow diagram of an embodiment method in which anasynchronous message is re-routed to a backup recipient according to therole that the intended recipient performed. If the mediator 130determines that the message (or message opened confirmation) must bere-routed (see step 255 in FIGS. 2-9), then the mediator 130 processormay access the role of the intended recipient from the original messagerole sub-field 430, step 320. Alternatively, the mediator 130 processorcan determine the role of the recipient by using the name or ID of theintended recipient from the message recipient ID sub-field 410 as a lookup value in a personnel directory or routing template stored in localmemory of the mediator 130 or in a mediator database 135. Knowing theintended recipient's role, the mediator 130 processor may lookup otheractors fulfilling the same role from a routing template stored in localmemory of the mediator 130 or in a mediator database 135, step 325.Actors may be listed in priority order or have a priority valueassociated with their data records that the mediator 130 may use toselect a particular backup recipient. The mediator 130 processor maydetermine the actor with the next highest priority of the identifiedrole listed within the routing template, step 330. The priority order ofactors or the priority values assigned to actors may be irrespective foreach actor's availability. Once the actor with the next highest priorityof the identified role is selected, the mediator 130 processor maydetermine whether the selected actor is available, decision 325. Themediator 130 processor may determine an actor's availability by lookingup the selected actor's status in a dynamic availability table (see FIG.14 c). If the selected actor is available (i.e., decision 335=Yes), themessage may be re-routed and transmitted to the selected actor'scommunication device, step 340. The message may be re-routed usingaddress information contained within the routing template (see FIGS. 14a and 14 b). If upon reviewing the dynamic status template (see FIG. 14c) the mediator 130 processor determines that the selected actor is notavailable (i.e., decision 335=No), the mediator 130 processor may accessthe routing template again to select the actor with the next highestpriority level for the identified role, step 330.

FIG. 14 a illustrates an example routing template that identifies theactors performing a particular role. In the illustrated example, onlythe portion of the routing template that includes actors performing therole of treating patient number 1 are listed. As one of skill in the artwill appreciate, this table may be expanded by listing all roles. Asshown in this example routing template, four doctors have been assignedthe role of treating patient 1. For example, these doctors may includethe patient's primary care physician, a specialist, an attendingphysician as well as resident physicians or medical students assigned tothe treatment of patient 1. Other healthcare professionals assigned topatient 1 may also include nurses (Nurse A to Nurse C) and PhysicianAssistants (PA A and PA B). For messages related to patient 1, any oftheses actors may be relevant recipients for a message related totreating patient 1. In addition to listing the actors role (in thisexample selection treating patient 1), the routing table may include apriority value for each actor associated with the identified role, aprimary address (e.g., an e-mail address as shown) for sending messagesand a back up address (e.g., a telephone number for sending SMS messagesas shown). Again, FIG. 14 a illustrates just a portion of an exampletemplate in which roles are defined by a patient. In anotherimplementation, for example, the routing template may specify that allmessages for doctor A's patients get routed to Doctor B (this happens indelegation for example). In a further example, the routing templatecould specify that all calls to a particular ICU physician should berouted to the Medical Director if the particular physician is notavailable.

FIG. 14 b illustrates another portion of the routing table for which therole is the actors' job type. In the instant example shown in FIG. 14 b,the portion of the routing table including the specific job type“nurse.” The priority level of each nurse listed may be in descendingorder, such as from supervisor (Nurse A) to rank and file nurses (NursesB-Nurse E). Thus, if the original message identifies the role in themessage role sub-field 430 as “nurse” (as opposed to “patient 1” shownin FIG. 14 a), the portion of the routing template shown in FIG. 14 bmay be retrieved in step 325 of FIG. 13 as opposed to the portion of therouting template shown in FIG. 14 a. Regardless, the same dynamic statustemplate may be used to determine the current status of each actor.

The dynamic status template depicted in FIG. 14 c may be updated in realtime through any of a variety of methods. For example, each time anactor logs into the AMC system 100 via any communication device 110_(n), the actor's status may change from “Out” to “In.” Alternatively,the dynamic status template may be set to change in accordance with awork schedule which is manually updated. In another embodiment, thedynamic status template may be linked to (or potential implemented aspart of) an enterprise calendar and appointment system, such as aMicrosoft Outlook® profile for example. In yet another embodiment, anactor's current status may change as the actor's communication devicecomes into and goes out of range of the communication network 120. Bydynamically changing the availability status of the various actors,message may be properly re-routed to only actor's who are currentlyavailable to receive message. In this manner, some communicationbreakdowns may be removed from the system.

To illustrate use of the routing templates shown in FIGS. 14 a and 14 c,a message regarding patient 1 might be sent to Doctor C as the firstrecipient. In formatting this message, the sender's communication devicegenerates a message that identifies treating patient 1 (or team membertreating patient 1) as the role that Doctor C is performing with respectto the sent message. If Doctor C is currently “Out” (see FIG. 14 c)Doctor C will not respond to the sent message and therefore a messageopened confirmation will not be returned to the mediator 130. Wheneither the threshold time prior to the deadline expressed in the messagedeadline information sub-field 420 or a threshold time prior to thedeadline imposed by the mediator 130 due to the message type 420 haselapsed, the mediator 130 processor may access the first recipient'srole from the original message 401 (see step 320 in FIG. 13). Afterretrieving the appropriate role from the original message, which ispatient 1 team members in the instant example, the mediator 130processor may access the routing template for the role “patient 1” tolook up other actors fulfilling the identified role (see step 325 inFIG. 13). The mediator 130 processor may select the actor with the nexthighest priority for the identified role (see step 330 in FIG. 13). Inthe instant example Doctor A has the highest priority (priority=1). Themediator 130 processor then determines whether Doctor A is available bylooking up Doctor A's current status in a dynamic status template suchas shown in FIG. 14 c. The dynamic status template shown in FIG. 14 cshows that Doctor A is currently “Out” (i.e., not available), so themediator 130 processor accesses the routing template for patient 1 teammembers again to select the actor with the next highest priority (seestep 330 in FIG. 13). The routing template in FIG. 14 a for patient 1team members shows that Doctor B has the next highest priority(priority=2). The mediator 130 processor then determines whether DoctorB is available by looking up Doctor B's current status in the dynamicstatus template shown in FIG. 14 c. The dynamic status template showsthat Doctor B is also currently “Out” (i.e., not available). Therefore,the mediator 130 processor accesses the routing template for patient 1team members again to select the actor with the next highest priority(step 330). This process may continue until the selected actor isdetermined to be available. In the instant example, the selected actorwith the next highest priority who is also available is Doctor D.Therefore, in this example the mediator 130 processor retrieves theaddresses associated with Doctor D from the routing template and relaysthe original message 401 to Doctor D (see step 340 in FIG. 13).

One of skill in the art would appreciate that FIGS. 14 a-14 c arerepresentative example data structures and that the various embodimentsmay be implemented using a variety of different data structures. Forexample, multiple cross-indexed data tables may be used so that actorinformation is listed in only one table (e.g., a single table listingfor each actor's contact information, role, responsibility,organizational position, etc.). Routing template may further specify therole which the listed actors perform. For example, in addition to havinga routing template for “patient 1 team members,” there may be anadditional routing template created for “patient 1 nurses,” “patient 1PAs.” Likewise, there may be routing templates which specifies“emergency room nurses,” “pediatric nurses,” “oncology nurses,” etc.

In an alternative embodiment, the message structure may not contain asub-field for the recipient's role. For example, FIG. 15 illustrates anexample message structure which includes the originating sender's ID405, the intended recipient's ID 410, deadline information or messagetype 420, and the message content payload 425. Absent from this messagestructure 402 is an indication of the recipient's role or a backuprecipient. In order to properly re-route such messages in an AMC system100, the mediator 130 processor may implement a method such asillustrated in the process flow shown in FIG. 19. Referring to FIG. 19,if the mediator 130 determines that the message (or message openedconfirmation) must be re-routed (see step 255 in FIGS. 2-9), themediator 130 processor may search the re-routing templates for theintended recipient's ID and lookup the intended recipient ID'sassociated role, step 350. Once the role is determined, the mediator 130processor may re-route the message in the same manner as described abovewith reference to steps 325-345 in FIG. 13. The message structure 402and the alternative embodiment method illustrated in the process flow ofFIG. 19 may be implemented in environments in which each actor appearsin a single routing template. In this manner, the role of the actor maybe determined by searching a single routing template in which the actoris listed. For example, actors may be organized into teams and thus, amessage can be re-routed to other team members. Alternatively, ininstances where each actor may appear in multiple routing templates, themediator 130 may attempt to obtain additional information from themessage itself to determine the role of the intended recipient. Forexample, the mediator 130 may look to the message type, patientidentifiers, roles of sender, a previous sender, or recipients ofearlier messages in a message thread, and any combination of these orother parameters, to determine the role of the intended recipient. Suchmulti-factor determinations may use logic tables or artificialintelligence rules engines in order to effectively reroute the messageto a unique endpoint (i.e., ultimate recipient).

FIG. 16 is an example message structure for use in another alternativeembodiment. In this message structure 403 neither the sender's ID northe recipient's ID is included. Instead only the roles of the both thesender and intended recipient are included in the message structuresub-fields 450 and 455, respectively. In order to properly route suchmessage 403, the mediator 130 processor retrieves the routing templates(e.g., FIGS. 14 a-14 c) in the initial routing procedure. In instanceswhere the sender specifies the intended recipient by role only, themediator 130 processor may retrieve the appropriate routing template inaccordance with the specified recipient role 455 and determine theappropriate recipient by implementing a method such as described abovewith reference to FIG. 13. Thus, the process of selecting a recipientfor a message is performed for both initial routing and for re-route themessage in the event a message opened confirmation is not returnedwithin the deadline period. In the alternative embodiment using amessage structure 403 as shown in FIG. 16, message senders may not beaware of or care who the recipient of the message is. Rather, the sendermay only know the specific role which should receive and act/respond tothe message 403.

FIG. 17 is an example message structure for use in another alternativeembodiment. In this message structure 404 only the sender's ID 405 andthe recipient's role 455 is included. In many instances, a sender willnot know the ID of a specific actor fulfilling an identified role.Consequently, the sender may only identify which role is qualified toreceive and/or respond to the message. In order to properly route suchmessage 404, the mediator 130 processor retrieves the routing templates(e.g., FIGS. 14 a-14 c) in the initial routing procedure. As with thedata structure shown in FIG. 16, the mediator 130 processor may retrievethe appropriate routing template in accordance with the specifiedrecipient role 455 and determine the appropriate recipient byimplementing a method such as described above with reference to FIG. 13.In the alternative embodiment using a message structure 404 as shown inFIG. 16, message senders may not be aware of or care who the recipientof the message is. Rather, the sender may only know the specific rolewhich should receive and act/respond to the message 404. Messagestructure 404 differs from the message structure 403 illustrated in FIG.16 in that the sender's ID is identified in sub-field 405 as opposed tosimply the sender's role being identified in sub-field 450 of messagestructure 403.

FIG. 18 is an example message structure for use in another alternativeembodiment. In this message structure 406 only the sender role 450 andthe recipient's ID 410 is identified in the message structuresub-fields. In some instances a sender may send a message from a sharedcommunication device 110. For example, a desktop computer may bedeployed at a nurse's station for all nurses to send messages from.Thus, the role of all senders may be known, but the specific sender IDmay not be known. Messages may be sent by identifying specific recipientIDs. Any message opened confirmation would be routed in accordance withthe routing templates to the same role that may be assigned to thecommunal communication device (e.g., nurse station computer).

One of skill in the art would appreciate that originating messages maybe sent using any of the various embodiment message structures. Responsemessage may be formulated using the same message structure as theoriginating message or any of the various embodiment message structuresdisclosed herein.

Additional features of the AMC system presented in FIG. 1 includemediated broadcast, real-time deadline notification, implementation ofpriority levels using deadlines, dynamic reminders, verbosity controland one-to-many communication. The mediated broadcast feature allowssending a message to multiple recipients (e.g., a one-to-manycommunication feature) and monitoring to whether the message wasreceived, read and acknowledged. The one-to-many communication featureallows for one-to-many asynchronous communication. For example, amessage initiated by 110 ₁ can be broadcast to recipient communicationdevices 110 ₂, 110 ₃, . . . 110 _(N). The mediator 130 may monitor thereceipt of message opened confirmations to confirm that the message isreceived, read and acknowledged by each of the recipient communicationdevices 110 ₂, 110 ₃ . . . 110 _(N). In one aspect, confirmationmessages are sent back to the originating communication device 110 ₁. Inone aspect, the mediated broadcast feature includes simultaneousbroadcast to the multiple recipients. In another aspect, the mediatedbroadcast feature includes non-simultaneous broadcast of the message.

The real-time deadline notification feature allows a status check of amessage and modification of the deadline based on communication needs(e.g., message content). In one aspect, access to the status checkfeature is limited to predetermined actors, roles, recipients and/orcombination thereof. In one aspect, authority to modify the deadline islimited to predetermined actors, roles, recipients and/or combinationthereof. Using an example in the healthcare industry, a message may besent to a nurse and a physician simultaneously. The nurse may be givenaccess to check status sufficient to see if the physician has read themessage. In an example, the nurse may resend the message to thephysician if the status indicates that the physician has not read themessage. The resent message may include an alert notification indicatingthe message priority level. In another example, the nurse may modify adeadline based on the need of the message content and resend the messageto the physician with the modified deadline. These examples illustratestatus checking, manual intervention and modification of a deadline.

The AMC system disclosed herein includes the feature of implementingpriority levels using deadlines. The priority level of a message may beassigned based on the deadline(s) associated with the message. Thedeadline(s) in turn may depend on the criticality of the messagecontent. In one example, the more critical the message content, theshorter the deadline by which the message needs to be conveyed to therecipient and the higher the priority level.

In an embodiment, a reminder may be sent to the recipient if a messageis not read within a deadline. In one aspect, the reminders are sent toother actors fulfilling the role of the intended recipient or otherroles entirely. For example, if a message is not read by any doctor in arouting-re-routing template within a threshold of time, a remindermessage may be sent to nurses who can locate and remind the doctors thata message must be played or displayed. In one example, the roles aredetermined based on one or more of the following: message content,priority level, actor playing the role and/or combination thereof, etc.In one aspect, reminders may be added or modified as conditions changeor if additional reminders or modification of reminders are necessary.In an example, a reminder is in the form of a deadline.

The verbosity control feature allows for message verbosity control tofine tune the types of messages received by a recipient. In one aspect,the parameters of the verbosity control are based on inputs such as auser's location, role, time, etc. The user in this example could includethe sender and/or the recipient. In one aspect, one or more of theparameters of the verbosity control determines the allowable messagelength. It would be apparent to those skilled in the art that theabove-mentioned features of the AMC system may be implementedindividually or in combination with other features to achieve theconcept of asynchronous mediated communication without affecting thespirit or scope of the present disclosure.

In one aspect, the message includes associated metadata for enabling oneor more of the following features: role-based message routing, messageredirection, mediated broadcast, real-time deadline modification,implementation of priority levels based on deadlines, dynamic remindersor verbosity control to achieve asynchronous mediated communication.

The embodiments described above may be implemented on any of a varietyof communication devices, such as, for example, cellular telephones,personal data assistants (PDA) with cellular telephone and/or WIFItransceivers, mobile electronic mail receivers, mobile web accessdevices, laptop computers, palmtop computers and otherprocessor-equipped devices. In addition, the various embodimentsdisclosed herein may be implemented by any processor-equipped deviceincluding stationary desktop computers. Typically, such portablecomputing devices will have in common the components illustrated in FIG.20. For example, the communication device 110 may include a processor191 coupled to internal memory 192 and a display 11. Additionally, thecommunication device 110, 180 may have an antenna 194 for sending andreceiving electromagnetic radiation that is connected to a wireless datalink and/or cellular telephone transceiver 195 coupled to the processor191. In some implementations, the transceiver 195 and portions of theprocessor 191 and memory 192 used for cellular telephone communicationsis referred to as the air interface since it provides a data interfacevia a wireless data link. Communication devices 10 also typicallyinclude a key pad 13 or miniature keyboard and menu selection buttons orrocker switches 12 for receiving user inputs. The processor 191 mayfurther be connected to a vocoder 199 which is in turn connected to amicrophone 19 and speaker 18. The communication device 110 may alsoinclude a wired network interface 194, such as a universal serial bus(USB) or FireWire® connector socket, for connecting the processor 191 toan external computing device such as a personal computer or externallocal area network.

The processor 191 may be any programmable microprocessor, microcomputeror multiple processor chip or chips that can be configured by softwareinstructions (applications) to perform a variety of functions, includingthe functions of the various embodiments described above. In one aspect,the processor 191 implements the software stored in the memory 192 toexecute one of more of the features of the AMC system, including but notlimited to, role-based message routing, manual or automatic messageredirection, mediated broadcast including one-to-many communication,real time deadline modification, implementation of priority levels usingdeadlines, dynamic reminders, verbosity control, etc. In somecommunication devices 110, multiple processors 191 may be provided, suchas one processor dedicated to wireless communication functions and oneprocessor dedicated to running other applications. Typically, softwareapplications may be stored in the internal memory 192 before they areaccessed and loaded into the processor 191. In some communicationdevices 110, 180, the processor 191 may include internal memorysufficient to store the application software instructions. For thepurposes of this description, the term memory refers to all memoryaccessible by the processor 191, including internal memory 192 andmemory within the processor 191 itself. In many communication devices10, the memory 192 may be a volatile or nonvolatile memory, such asflash memory, or a mixture of both.

A number of the embodiments described above may also be implemented withany of a variety of remote server devices acting as a mediator 130, suchas the server 210 illustrated in FIG. 21. Such a remote server 210typically includes a processor 361 coupled to volatile memory 362 and alarge capacity nonvolatile memory, such as a disk drive 363. The server210 may also include a floppy disc drive and/or a compact disc (CD)drive 366 coupled to the processor 361. Typically, the server 210 mayalso include a user input device like a keyboard (not shown) and adisplay (not shown). The server 210 may also include a number ofconnector ports coupled to the processor 361 for establishing dataconnections or receiving external memory devices, such as USB orFireWire® connector sockets or other network connection circuits 365 forcoupling the processor 361 to a network 205.

Thus, the advantages of the asynchronous mediated communication methodand apparatus disclosed herein include the ability to set prioritylevels for messages according to deadlines which in turn may depend onthe message content or user designation. In one aspect, a user sets themessage deadlines. An additional advantage includes modifying themessage deadlines based on the communication needs (e.g., the messagecontent). Role based, and not person-based, routing of messages is partof the advantages. Delegation of roles, which could include manualand/or automatic re-routing of messages, as well as escalation ofmessages based on the need are all part of the advantages ofasynchronous mediated communication method and apparatus disclosedherein.

In much of the description, reference is made to the healthcareindustry. However, the healthcare industry is one example and theconcept disclosed may be implemented in other applications withoutaffecting the spirit or scope of the disclosure. Therefore, it should benoted that the description herein illustrate examples for the purposesof explanation. The previous description of the disclosed aspects isprovided to enable any person skilled in the art to make or use thepresent disclosure. Various modifications to these aspects will bereadily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principlesdefined herein may be applied to other aspects without departing fromthe spirit or scope of the disclosure.

The foregoing method descriptions and the process flow diagrams areprovided merely as illustrative examples and are not intended to requireor imply that the steps of the various embodiments must be performed inthe order presented. As will be appreciated by one of skill in the artthe order of steps in the foregoing embodiments may be performed in anyorder.

The hardware used to implement the foregoing embodiments may beprocessing elements and memory elements configured to execute a set ofinstructions, including microprocessor units, microcomputer units,programmable floating point gate arrays (FPGA), and application specificintegrated circuits (ASIC) as would be appreciated by one of skill inthe art, wherein the set of instructions are for performing method stepscorresponding to the above methods. Alternatively, some steps or methodsmay be performed by circuitry that is specific to a given function.

Those of skill in the art will appreciate that the various illustrativelogical blocks, modules, circuits, and algorithm steps described inconnection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented aselectronic hardware, computer software, or combinations of both. Toclearly illustrate this interchangeability of hardware and software,various illustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits, and stepshave been described above generally in terms of their functionality.Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or softwaredepends upon the particular application and design constraints imposedon the overall system. Skilled artisans may implement the describedfunctionality in varying ways for each particular application, but suchimplementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing adeparture from the scope of the present invention.

The steps of a method or algorithm described in connection with theembodiments disclosed herein may be embodied directly in hardware, in asoftware module executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two.The software module may reside in a processor readable storage mediumand/or processor readable memory both of which may be any of RAM memory,flash memory, ROM memory, EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, registers, harddisk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other tangible form of datastorage medium known in the art. Moreover, the processor readable memorymay comprise more than one memory chip, memory internal to the processorchip, in separate memory chips, and combinations of different types ofmemory such as flash memory and RAM memory. References herein to thememory of a mobile handset are intended to encompass any one or allmemory modules within the mobile handset without limitation to aparticular configuration, type or packaging. An exemplary storage mediumis coupled to a processor in either the mobile handset or the themeserver such that the processor can read information from, and writeinformation to, the storage medium. In the alternative, the storagemedium may be integral to the processor. The processor and the storagemedium may reside in an ASIC.

The foregoing description of the various embodiments is provided toenable any person skilled in the art to make or use the presentinvention. Various modifications to these embodiments will be readilyapparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles definedherein may be applied to other embodiments without departing from thespirit or scope of the invention. Thus, the present invention is notintended to be limited to the embodiments shown herein, and instead theclaims should be accorded the widest scope consistent with theprinciples and novel features disclosed herein.

1. A method for mediating asynchronous message routing, comprising:receiving an asynchronous message from a sender's communication deviceintended for a first recipient; retrieving routing information regardinga role of the first recipient from information within the asynchronousmessage; routing the asynchronous message to the first recipient'scommunication device based upon the routing information; monitoring fora message open confirmation from the first recipient's communicationdevice; and re-routing the asynchronous message to a second recipient'scommunication device based upon the role performed by the firstrecipient if a message opened confirmation is not received from thefirst recipient's communication device.
 2. The method of claim 1,further comprising re-routing the asynchronous message to a secondrecipient's communication device based upon the role performed by thefirst recipient if the message opened confirmation is not received fromthe first recipient within a deadline.
 3. The method of claim 2, furthercomprising: generating a first reminder regarding the asynchronousmessage at a first threshold of time prior to expiration of thedeadline; and transmitting the first reminder to the first recipient'scommunication device.
 4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:generating a secondary reminder regarding the asynchronous message at asecond threshold of time prior to expiration of the deadline; retrievinga routing template for the role of the first recipient; selecting afirst actor having a next highest priority in the routing template;determining if the selected actor is available; transmitting thesecondary reminder to the selected actor if the selected actor isavailable; selecting a second actor if the first actor is unavailable;and transmitting the secondary reminder to the second actor if thesecond actor is available.
 5. The method of claim 2, further comprising:generating a secondary reminder regarding the asynchronous message atsome threshold of time prior to expiration of the deadline; retrieving arouting template for the role of the first recipient; selecting an actorhaving the same role as the first recipient with a highest priority thatis available; and transmitting the secondary reminder to the selectedactor.
 6. The method of claim 2, wherein the deadline is imposed by thefirst sender.
 7. The method of claim 2, wherein the deadline isautomatically imposed based upon the asynchronous message content type.8. The method of claim 1, further comprising re-routing a message openedconfirmation to a second sender's communication device based upon a roleperformed by the first sender if the first sender's communication deviceis not available.
 9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:retrieving a routing template for the role of the first recipient;selecting an actor having the role of the first recipient with a nexthighest priority from the routing template; determining if the selectedactor is available; and wherein the selected actor is the secondrecipient if the selected actor is available.
 10. The method of claim 9,further comprising retrieving the selected second recipient's routinginformation from the routing template.
 11. The method of claim 1,further comprising: retrieving a routing template based upon the firstrecipient; determining the first recipient's role from the routingtemplate; selecting an actor possessing a next highest priority from therouting template; and determining if the selected actor is available,wherein the selected actor is the second recipient if the selected actoris available.
 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the routinginformation only contains the first recipient's role.
 13. The method ofclaim 8, further comprising: retrieving a routing template for the roleof the first sender; determining an actor possessing a next highestpriority from the routing template; determining if the actor isavailable; and selecting the actor as the second sender if the actor isavailable.
 14. The method of claim 13, further comprising retrieving theselected second sender's routing information from the routing template.15. The method of claim 8, further comprising: retrieving a routingtemplate based upon the identified first sender; determining the firstsender's role from the routing template; determining an actor possessinga next highest priority from the routing template; determining if theactor is available; and selecting the actor as the second sender if theactor is available.
 16. The method of claim 15, wherein the routinginformation only contains the first sender's role.
 17. The method ofclaim 2, wherein determining if the selected actor is available isaccomplished by looking up the selected actor's availability in adynamic availability template.
 18. A mediator for mediating asynchronousmessage routing, comprising: means for receiving a asynchronous messagefrom a sender's communication device intended for a first recipient;means for retrieving routing information regarding a role of the firstrecipient from information within the asynchronous message; means forrouting the asynchronous message to the first recipient's communicationdevice based upon the routing information; means for monitoring for amessage open confirmation from the first recipient's communicationdevice; and means for re-routing the asynchronous message to a secondrecipient's communication device based upon the role performed by thefirst recipient if a message opened confirmation is not received fromthe first recipient's communication device.
 19. The mediator of claim18, further comprising means for re-routing the asynchronous message toa second recipient's communication device based upon the role performedby the first recipient if the message opened confirmation is notreceived from the first recipient within a deadline.
 20. The mediator ofclaim 19, further comprising: means for generating a first reminderregarding the asynchronous message at a first threshold of time prior toexpiration of the deadline; and means for transmitting the firstreminder to the first recipient's communication device.
 21. The mediatorof claim 20, further comprising: means for generating a secondaryreminder regarding the asynchronous message at a second threshold oftime prior to expiration of the deadline; means for retrieving a routingtemplate for the role of the first recipient; means for selecting afirst actor having a next highest priority in the routing template;means for determining if the selected actor is available; means fortransmitting the secondary reminder to the selected actor if theselected actor is available; means for selecting a second actor if thefirst actor is unavailable; and means for transmitting the secondaryreminder to the second actor if the second actor is available.
 22. Themediator of claim 19, further comprising: means for generating asecondary reminder regarding the asynchronous message at some thresholdof time prior to expiration of the deadline; means for retrieving arouting template for the role of the first recipient; means forselecting an actor having the same role as the first recipient with ahighest priority that is available; and means for transmitting thesecondary reminder to the selected actor.
 23. The mediator of claim 19,further comprising means for imposing the deadline determined by thefirst sender.
 24. The mediator of claim 19, further comprising means forautomatically imposing the deadline based upon the asynchronous messagecontent type.
 25. The mediator of claim 18, further comprising means forre-routing a message opened confirmation to a second sender'scommunication device based upon a role performed by the first sender ifthe first sender's communication device is not available.
 26. Themediator of claim 18, further comprising: means for retrieving a routingtemplate for the role of the first recipient; means for selecting anactor having the role of the first recipient with a next highestpriority from the routing template; and means for determining if theselected actor is available from a dynamic availability template,wherein the selected actor is the second recipient if the actor isavailable.
 27. The mediator of claim 26, further comprising means forretrieving the selected second recipient's routing information from therouting template.
 28. The mediator of claim 18, further comprising:means for retrieving a routing template based upon the first recipient;means for determining the first recipient's role from the routingtemplate; means for selecting an actor possessing a next highestpriority from the routing template; and means for determining if theselected actor is available from a dynamic availability template,wherein the selected actor is the second recipient if the actor isavailable.
 29. The mediator of claim 28, wherein the routing informationonly contains the first recipient's role.
 30. The mediator of claim 25,further comprising: means for retrieving a routing template for the roleof the first sender; means for determining an actor possessing a nexthighest priority from the routing template; means for determining if theactor is available from a dynamic availability template; and means forselecting the actor as the second sender if the actor is available. 31.The mediator of claim 30, further comprising means for retrieving theselected second sender's routing information from the routing template.32. The mediator of claim 25, further comprising: means for retrieving arouting template based upon the identified first sender; means fordetermining the first sender's role from the routing template; means fordetermining an actor possessing a next highest priority from the routingtemplate; means for determining if the actor is available from a dynamicavailability template; and means for selecting the actor as the secondsender if the actor is available.
 33. The mediator of claim 32, whereinthe routing information only contains the first sender's role.
 34. Themediator of claim 21, wherein means for determining if the selectedactor is available comprises means for looking up the selected actor'savailability in a dynamic availability template.
 35. A mediator formediating asynchronous message routing, comprising: a memory unit; and aprocessor coupled to the memory unit, wherein the processor isconfigured with software instructions to perform steps comprising:receiving a asynchronous message from a sender's communication deviceintended for a first recipient; retrieving routing information regardinga role of the first recipient from information within the asynchronousmessage; routing the asynchronous message to the first recipient'scommunication device based upon the routing information; monitoring fora message open confirmation from the first recipient's communicationdevice; and re-routing the asynchronous message to a second recipient'scommunication device based upon the role performed by the firstrecipient if a message opened confirmation is not received from thefirst recipient's communication device.
 36. The mediator of claim 35,wherein the processor is configured with software instructions toperform further steps comprising: re-routing the asynchronous message toa second recipient's communication device based upon the role performedby the first recipient if the message opened confirmation is notreceived from the first recipient within a deadline.
 37. The mediator ofclaim 36, wherein the processor is configured with software instructionsto perform further steps comprising: generating a first reminderregarding the asynchronous message at a first threshold of time prior toexpiration of the deadline; and transmitting the first reminder to thefirst recipient's communication device.
 38. The mediator of claim 37,wherein the processor is configured with software instructions toperform further steps comprising: generating a secondary reminderregarding the asynchronous message at a second threshold of time priorto expiration of the deadline; retrieving a routing template for therole of the first recipient; selecting a first actor having a nexthighest priority in the routing template; determining if the selectedactor is available; transmitting the secondary reminder to the selectedactor if the selected actor is available; selecting a second actor ifthe first actor is unavailable; and transmitting the secondary reminderto the second actor if the second actor is available.
 39. The mediatorof claim 36, wherein the processor is configured with softwareinstructions to perform further steps comprising: generating a secondaryreminder regarding the asynchronous message at some threshold of timeprior to expiration of the deadline; retrieving a routing template forthe role of the first recipient; selecting an actor having the same roleas the first recipient with a highest priority that is available; andtransmitting the secondary reminder to the selected actor.
 40. Themediator of claim 36, wherein the processor is configured with softwareinstructions to perform further steps comprising: imposing the deadlinedetermined by the first sender.
 41. The mediator of claim 36, whereinthe processor is configured with software instructions to performfurther steps comprising: automatically imposing the deadline based uponthe asynchronous message content type.
 42. The mediator of claim 35,wherein the processor is configured with software instructions toperform further steps comprising: re-routing a message openedconfirmation to a second sender's communication device based upon a roleperformed by the first sender if the first sender's communication deviceis not available.
 43. The mediator of claim 35, wherein the processor isconfigured with software instructions to perform further stepscomprising: retrieving a routing template for the role of the firstrecipient; selecting an actor having the role of the first recipientwith a next highest priority from the routing template; and determiningif the selected actor is available, wherein the selected actor is thesecond recipient if the selected actor is available.
 44. The mediator ofclaim 43, wherein the processor is configured with software instructionsto perform further steps comprising: retrieving the selected secondrecipient's routing information from the routing template.
 45. Themediator of claim 35, wherein the processor is configured with softwareinstructions to perform further steps comprising: retrieving a routingtemplate based upon the first recipient; determining the firstrecipient's role from the routing template; selecting an actorpossessing a next highest priority from the routing template; anddetermining if the selected actor is available, wherein the selectedactor is the second recipient if the selected actor is available. 46.The mediator of claim 42, wherein the processor is configured withsoftware instructions to perform further steps comprising: retrieving arouting template for the role of the first sender; determining an actorpossessing a next highest priority from the routing template;determining if the actor is available; and selecting the actor as thesecond sender if the actor is available.
 47. The mediator of claim 42,wherein the processor is configured with software instructions toperform further steps comprising: retrieving a routing template basedupon the identified first sender; determining the first sender's rolefrom the routing template; determining an actor possessing a nexthighest priority from the routing template; determining if the actor isavailable; and selecting the actor as the second sender if the actor isavailable.
 48. The mediator of claim 42, wherein the processor isconfigured with software instructions to perform further stepscomprising: determining if the selected actor is available by looking upthe selected actor's availability in a dynamic availability template.49. A tangible storage medium having stored thereon processor-executablesoftware instructions configured to cause a processor to perform stepscomprising: receiving a asynchronous message from a sender'scommunication device intended for a first recipient; retrieving routinginformation regarding a role of the first recipient from informationwithin the asynchronous message; routing the asynchronous message to thefirst recipient's communication device based upon the routinginformation; monitoring for a message open confirmation from the firstrecipient's communication device; and re-routing the asynchronousmessage to a second recipient's communication device based upon the roleperformed by the first recipient if a message opened confirmation is notreceived from the first recipient's communication device.
 50. Thetangible storage medium of claim 49, wherein the tangible storage mediumhas processor-executable software instructions configured to cause aprocessor to perform further steps comprising: re-routing theasynchronous message to a second recipient's communication device basedupon the role performed by the first recipient if the message openedconfirmation is not received from the first recipient within a deadline.51. The tangible storage medium of claim 50, wherein the tangiblestorage medium has processor-executable software instructions configuredto cause a processor to perform further steps comprising: generating afirst reminder regarding the asynchronous message at a first thresholdof time prior to expiration of the deadline; and transmitting the firstreminder to the first recipient's communication device.
 52. The tangiblestorage medium of claim 51, wherein the tangible storage medium hasprocessor-executable software instructions configured to cause aprocessor to perform further steps comprising: generating a secondaryreminder regarding the asynchronous message at a second threshold oftime prior to expiration of the deadline; retrieving a routing templatefor the role of the first recipient; selecting a first actor having anext highest priority in the routing template; determining if theselected actor is available; transmitting the secondary reminder to theselected actor if the selected actor is available; selecting a secondactor if the first actor is unavailable; and transmitting the secondaryreminder to the second actor if the second actor is available.
 53. Thetangible storage medium of claim 50, wherein the tangible storage mediumhas processor-executable software instructions configured to cause aprocessor to perform further steps comprising: generating a secondaryreminder regarding the asynchronous message at some threshold of timeprior to expiration of the deadline; retrieving a routing template forthe role of the first recipient; selecting an actor having the same roleas the first recipient with a highest priority that is available; andtransmitting the secondary reminder to the selected actor.
 54. Thetangible storage medium of claim 50, wherein the tangible storage mediumhas processor-executable software instructions configured to cause aprocessor to perform further steps comprising: imposing the deadlinedetermined by the first sender.
 55. The tangible storage medium of claim50, wherein the tangible storage medium has processor-executablesoftware instructions configured to cause a processor to perform furthersteps comprising: automatically imposing the deadline based upon theasynchronous message content type.
 56. The tangible storage medium ofclaim 49, wherein the tangible storage medium has processor-executablesoftware instructions configured to cause a processor to perform furthersteps comprising: re-routing a message opened confirmation to a secondsender's communication device based upon a role performed by the firstsender if the first sender's communication device is not available. 57.The tangible storage medium of claim 49, wherein the tangible storagemedium has processor-executable software instructions configured tocause a processor to perform further steps comprising: retrieving arouting template for the role of the first recipient; selecting an actorhaving the role of the first recipient with a next highest priority fromthe routing template; and determining if the selected actor isavailable, wherein the selected actor is the second recipient if theselected actor is available.
 58. The tangible storage medium of claim57, wherein the tangible storage medium has processor-executablesoftware instructions configured to cause a processor to perform furthersteps comprising: retrieving the selected second recipient's routinginformation from the routing template.
 59. The tangible storage mediumof claim 49, wherein the tangible storage medium hasprocessor-executable software instructions configured to cause aprocessor to perform further steps comprising: retrieving a routingtemplate based upon the first recipient; determining the firstrecipient's role from the routing template; selecting an actorpossessing a next highest priority from the routing template; anddetermining if the selected actor is available, wherein the selectedactor is the second recipient if the selected actor is available. 60.The tangible storage medium of claim 57, wherein the tangible storagemedium has processor-executable software instructions configured tocause a processor to perform further steps comprising: retrieving arouting template for the role of the first sender; determining an actorpossessing a next highest priority from the routing template;determining if the actor is available; and selecting the actor as thesecond sender if the actor is available.
 61. The tangible storage mediumof claim 60, wherein the tangible storage medium hasprocessor-executable software instructions configured to cause aprocessor to perform further steps comprising: retrieving the selectedsecond sender's routing information from the routing template.
 62. Thetangible storage medium of claim 56, wherein the tangible storage mediumhas processor-executable software instructions configured to cause aprocessor to perform further steps comprising: retrieving a routingtemplate based upon the identified first sender; determining the firstsender's role from the routing template; determining an actor possessinga next highest priority from the routing template; determining if theactor is available; and selecting the actor as the second sender if theactor is available.
 63. The tangible storage medium of claim 52, whereinthe tangible storage medium has processor-executable softwareinstructions configured to cause a processor to perform further stepscomprising: determining if the selected actor is available by looking upthe selected actor's availability in a dynamic availability template.